The Black Atlantic is the Groningen based acoustic pop band formed around singer and songwriter Geert van der Velde, former frontman for American metalcore group Shai Hulud.
In February 2008, The Black Atlantic started recording their debut album in a cabin owned by van der Velde’s in-laws, located in the small town of Saranac Lake, in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York.
For this recording, drummer Marcel Wolthof was re-enlisted alongside singer-songwriter Kim Janssen on various instruments. Janssen co-wrote some of the songs for the recording and has permanently settled in and joined the band.
The Black Atlantic | Walked-on Wood
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=8gmmkyYUtOY
The band took a large part of these recordings back home to the Netherlands where they finished the album over the course of Spring 2009 and early Summer at the (now defunct) Paperboat recording studio in Zwolle.
The title of the album “Reverence for Fallen Trees” is a metaphor for “honour the dead” alluding to van der Velde’s grandparents, 3 of whom passed away during the recording process. The album deals with these topics – ‘remembrance’ , ‘grief’, ‘family’, ‘love’, ‘disenchantment’ – in a roundabout way, mostly through the use of natural metaphors.
The Black Atlantic | Fragile Meadow
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=L1g6MOk7Dc0
Musically the album showcases a wide variety of instrumentation with a penchant for ambience and an abundance of melancholy, multi-layered vocal harmonies; inspired by such acts as Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes and the Beach Boys. Rhythmically the band’s approach is minimalist and percussive rather than expansive; the band tours with only a snare drum, floor tom and ride cymbal.
The Black Atlantic are supported by freakish atlantic from Berlin. Their debut EP, “Siren Songs” was recorded during the rainy summer of 2011 in Flo´s bedroom under the influence of cheap ice pops while spending most of the time playing ´International Superstar Soccer´ on an old Super Nintendo. They tried their best to make these bedroom pop songs sound as big as humanly possible.
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The Black Atlantic & freakish atlantic LIVE
Wednesday, 25 July 2012 | 20:00 CET
Roter Salon in der Volksbühne | Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz | 10178 Berlin/Mitte
theblackatlantic.com | freakishatlantic.bandcamp.com | roter-salon-berlin.de
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